The carousel that is Class AAAAAA girls basketball took another round before the start of region tournaments as Osborne returned the top of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution rankings after a three-week absence.
Osborne replaced South Forsyth, which lost to county rivals North Forsyth and West Forsyth last week. South Forsyth fell to No. 5 in the rankings and into a tie for first place in 6-AAAAAA. But the team will be the No. 1 seed in the region tournament, which starts Monday, thanks to a coin flip with North Forsyth.
Osborne, the No. 1 seed in Region 4, is ranked No. 1 in the state for the second time. The Cardinals held the spot for a week in January before losing to Spain Park, Ala.
There have been three lead changes in the AAAAAA girls rankings since January — from Westlake (one week) to Osborne (one week) to South Forsyth (three weeks) back to Osborne. None of the three No. 1 teams was the preseason favorite. That honor went to defending champion McEachern, now ranked No. 10. The AJC did not compile a preseason poll.
The rest of the rankings saw little change.
For the second consecutive week, the No. 1 boys teams remained the same — Wheeler (AAAAAA), Miller Grove (AAAAA), Jonesboro (AAAA), Laney (AAA), Pace Academy (AA) and St. Francis (A). Only AA has had a new leader since Jan. 1.
There were some upsets in Class AAAAA, as seventh-ranked Southwest DeKalb had its season ended Friday in the Region 6 tournament. The Panthers were beaten by Dunwoody 45-43. Dunwoody trailed by 10 points at halftime. It was Dunwoody’s first tournament victory in four seasons.
Southwest DeKalb and Cedar Shoals left the AAAAA rankings. Newly ranked are Stockbridge and Warner Robins. There were three other new teams in the boys rankings. Region 6-AAAAAA champion Alpharetta replaced Dacula, which lost twice. Liberty County replaced Stone Mountain in AAAA and Greene County replaced Coosa in AA.
The only new team in the girls rankings in any classification is Thomasville, which returned to the Class AA top 10 at No. 10, replacing Vidalia.
Although a few regions tournaments began Friday, most will start Monday and finish Saturday. The top four teams from each region advance to the state tournament. The exception is Class A, which uses a power rating to determine its 32 state-playoff teams.
Nine teams finished the regular season undefeated. The boys teams are McIntosh (25-0), Johnson-Gainesville (24-0) and Athens Christian (24-0). The girls teams, all 25-0, are Woodstock, Brunswick, Dawson County, South Atlanta, Holy Innocents’ and Taylor County.
The state tournament will begin next week and finish in Macon with finals set for March 6-8.
Boys
Class AAAAAA
1. Wheeler (23-2)
2. Tift County (24-1)
3. Pebblebrook (20-5)
4. Norcross (22-3)
5. Shiloh (22-3)
6. Tucker (24-2)
7. Pope (21-4)
8. Hillgrove (20-4)
9. Douglas County (19-6)
10. Alpharetta (21-4)
Class AAAAA
1. Miller Grove (22-3)
2. McIntosh (25-0)
3. M.L. King (20-4)
4. Gainesville (23-2)
5. Brunswick (22-2)
6. Allatoona (23-2)
7. Carver-Columbus (19-5)
8. Warner Robins (18-4)
9. LaGrange (18-7)
10. Stockbridge (19-6)
Class AAAA
1. Jonesboro (24-1)
2. Johnson-Gainesville (24-0)
3. Lithonia (22-2)
4. St. Pius (22-3)
5. Carrollton (23-2)
6. Burke County (22-2)
7. Americus-Sumter (21-4)
8. Albany (17-5)
9. Liberty County (18-4)
10. Columbia (17-7)
Class AAA
1. Laney (24-1)
2. Jenkins (22-3)
3. Cedar Grove (18-3)
4. Morgan County (18-7)
5. Johnson-Savannah (20-4)
6. South Atlanta (21-4)
7. Butler (17-8)
8. Blessed Trinity (21-4)
9. Rutland (22-3)
10. East Hall (20-5)
Class AA
1. Pace Academy (23-2)
2. Seminole County (21-3)
3. Holy Innocents’ (21-4)
4. Crawford County (21-3)
5. Vidalia (23-2)
6. Greater Atlanta Christian (16-8)
7. Harlem (21-3)
8. Model (19-4)
9. Greene County (20-5)
10. Thomasville (18-7)
Class A
1. St. Francis (22-3)
2. Greenforest Christian (21-1)
3. Athens Christian (24-0)
4. Whitefield Academy (18-8)
5. Hancock Central (20-2)
6. Wilkinson County (22-3)
7. Calhoun County (23-2)
8. Treutlen (22-1)
9. Greenville (23-2)
10. North Cobb Christian (17-8)
Girls
Class AAAAAA
1. Osborne (23-2)
2. Parkview (20-3)
3. Archer (21-4)
4. Mountain View (21-4)
5. South Forsyth (21-4)
6. North Forsyth (22-3)
7. Westlake (23-2)
8. Woodstock (25-0)
9. Norcross (21-4)
10. McEachern (18-5)
Class AAAAA
1. Brunswick (25-0)
2. Mays (20-2)
3. Effingham County (20-5)
4. Sequoyah (22-3)
5. Forest Park (21-4)
6. Stephenson (19-4)
7. South Effingham (21-4)
8. Southwest DeKalb (19-6)
9. Greenbrier (22-3)
10. Cross Creek (21-4)
Class AAAA
1. Buford (22-3)
2. Jonesboro (24-1)
3. St. Pius (23-2)
4. Veterans (24-1)
5. Mary Persons (22-2)
6. Americus-Sumter (24-1)
7. Marist (18-4)
8. Redan (17-5)
9. Bainbridge (20-5)
10. Northwest Whitfield (19-6)
Class AAA
1. Dawson County (25-0)
2. South Atlanta (25-0)
3. Kendrick (24-1)
4. Laney (22-3)
5. Decatur (23-2)
6. Beach (19-5)
7. Washington County (20-5)
8. Westminster (20-5)
9. Peach County (18-3)
10. Dodge County (20-4)
Class AA
1. Holy Innocents’ (25-0)
2. Pelham (24-1)
3. Wesleyan (19-6)
4. Model (22-2)
5. Darlington (19-6)
6. Putnam County (20-4)
7. Lovett (16-7)
8. Union County (18-5)
9. Manchester (21-2)
10. Thomasville (18-7)
Class A
1. St. Francis (21-3)
2. SW Atlanta Christian (22-3)
3. Taylor County (25-0)
4. Tattnall Square (23-2)
5. Savannah Country Day (23-2)
6. Claxton (22-3)
7. Calvary Day (20-4)
8. Turner County (23-2)
9. Stratford Academy (18-5)
10. Eagle’s Landing Christian (18-6)
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